So, to continue on this path of joining forces we felt it was time to be ‘official’ by creating our own brand + website as a point of contact for our web design shop: Little Eye.

Why the name, Little Eye

There’s actually a bunch of reasons, literal and figurative, that we landed on Little Eye.

Little Eye refers to the most powerful eyes in the world. These aren’t the largest eyes like you might think, they’re of raptors/birds of prey. This is why the logo includes a bird. You can tell it is a bird of prey by the shape of its beak- how it curves down. If you’re curious, this curve is to help them tear apart their prey, but we don’t mean this concept to be relative to our work ;)

Little Eye is meant to sound humble, not like we are this big agency with lots of workers- because we aren’t. We’re two people, with connections to possibly hire on more people if we need per project.

The initial idea of ‘Little Eye’ was from looking at both our last names, Alili and Attinella. We were thinking of combining them, to Alinella or something like this, but didn’t like how this was not referring to anything tangible and therefor it would be easily forgotten. Then we broke apart Onar’s last name: a + li’l + i. A little eye.

We were hoping to use an animal as part of our logo, because we wanted to incorporate donating part of our profits towards animals. We decided to donate money towards rainforest protection because it protects many endangered animals and rainforests are the most impactful carbon sink (but also the most endangered of forests).

Finally a coincidence- the head of a bird happens to be the same shape of Azerbaijan, the country Onar is from and also the base of our travel site, Go Travel Azerbaijan.

Our capabilities

By combining our skills, we’re able to do pretty much anything on the web. We can create sites from scratch, but also give current sites a makeover.

What’s extra awesome about these illustrations is not just that they are free to use and part of an extensive modern library that makes the web a more beautiful place, they are all vector! Meaning, each are completely editable and customizable. This is how we were able to create aliases of me and Onar matching the rest of the drawings.

If you have web needs beyond design, we’re here for you!

We just launched our site, and are looking forward to future opportunities to create together.

This project is part of our goal to build sources of income remote so that we can more easily visit our friends and families that are on opposite sides of the world.

Wish us luck!

Thanks for reading, and if you have any questions about our abilities, feel free to reach out to me (hello@loopandlaurel.design), fill out the form on the Little Eye site, or email us (hello@wearelittleeye.com).

Simply Icon Packs

Any web designer will tell you how often they are using and searching for icons.

There are several places on the web that offer free icons, but typically either you are required to give credit on your page or the icon isn't part of a comprehensive matching pack, meaning you might find one icon communicating what you need but the net one you find might be a different style. On top of that, often any free or paid for icon styles are limited and you tend to see the same files on many websites.

These consistencies and uniqueness are important when doing high end work, so when I myself was searching for icons to use with my projects it hit me that I could simply draw my own.

Initially I felt I didn't have time to make them myself, but as I increasingly spent more and more time searching for the perfect icon solutions to no avail, it was clear that I couldn't afford the time not to. This ensured each icon was in the same voice, plus after creating a handful based off need within a few months of freelance design work, I had close to a completed set that I could easily use for future projects. Plus they are customizable, so I could change the width of the line, or use of color/no color depending on what I was working on so they were appropriate to the brand still.

Having these ready to go has saved me so much time in my designs, on top of that often clients are delightfully pleased to see more visual communication tools when they didn't expect it.

My partner, a developer, insisted in the value of icons like this from indie designers and encouraged me to make something with the concept. Since I'm basically always excited about starting new projects out there in the world I gladly accepted the challenge.

The goal of the logo was to make sure "Icon Packs" was most clearly visible from a distance with "Simply" having some more personality. I'm able to use the "Loop & Laurel" symbol as the crown of the logo- providing a subtle link to my two names without being overt. I did some research on other icon making firms out there, and decided on the Italicized Serif font as a way to differentiate to make sure I am my own brand. I actually really like how the Loop & Laurel logo acts like a crown because it reminds me of the word royalty, and I want people to remember these icons are royalty-free and CAN be used for commercial purposes. (Of course they can't be redistributed or sold though). I also like how "Simply" is set up to potentially down the road be a new entity.

140 Modern Business icons- Simply Icon Packs

Something that sets me apart from other icon options is I prepare the icons for color- they are ready to be used as-is but they also may be edited to specific brand colors.

I also offer custom icon add-ons in case a business knows they have specific concepts to communicate that wouldn't be included in the general pack.

140 Modern Business Icons color + no color (Simply Icon Packs) - Includes for free any future additions (I plan to add 10 more in the near future). Great for developers, designers, hobbyists, etc. Anyone that could benefit from having a ton of visual communication tools on hand.

So that's it! Wish me luck on creating lots of new icons. It's fun for me to make them (the best part is adding the color). I hope as an indie designer I can figure out how to find people that would be interested in these. (Marketing is my least favorite thing.....unfortunately)

The Wild #MPRraccoon Ride

The thing about opportunity is you often never know when it will show itself!

In case you hadn't heard, on June 12th and 13th 2018 in St. Paul Minnesota a raccoon astonished onlookers by scaling a 25 level building. She attracted attention globally as we awaited to hear that she hopefully safely reached of the roof. Most the attention started on the 12th, and I happened to hear of the situation (living in Rome not Minnesota remember!) since I was plugged into a great radio show episode on the Colleen & Bradley Show by my previous employer myTalk1071 discussing the Suicide Epidemic. (A tad ironic that I was not listening to MPR, but another talk radio station of the Twin Cities!) When the episode was over there was some breaking news about the raccoon!

By that time it was evening for me. I called to my partner about it and we excitedly watched the few videos that were up. We headed to sleep and were hopeful about the Raccoon's fate in the morning.

When we woke up, around 10am Rome time it was still 3am in St. Paul so no one was up yet to report about it.

I sat at my computer, without too much freelance on my plate, and was considering how inspiring and odd this situation was- particularly after the very recent tragic news of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain ending their lives still paining everyone- this news of the MPR Raccoon was so genuinely pure and wholesome. At that point, since we hadn't heard about the fate, it had brought people together over the love of this animal. There's something about raccoons too, that are just so adorable but menacing with their grippy hands. (The cutest combo)

Everyone had pure love and hope for this animal, and I was inspired to make some art while most people following were asleep and I awaited the news. To be grim but honest, at this point I didn't know if I would be creating a memorial or inspirational commemoration.

The raccoon drawing started from a photo I found, I used it as a base and drew over it and added my own extra fluffy touches with the smudge tool.

The building was something I started with an image as well- I edited out the UBS logo for simplicity and used the smudge tool as a base for turning it into a more oil painting quality. It was a bit repetitive and painful to get every single window, but I'd rather make sure the building was accurate than make a different interpretation of it. From there I added my own shadows and highlights.

The background flowers:

I had previously been sketching different nature in our yard- particularly magnolia leaves and flowers:

The low quality, yellowy scan is what ended up being the background magnolia. I used it as a rough base for the smudge tool then added my own extra shadows and highlights.

In process of drawing I was checking and refreshing the news- HOORAY! The MPR Raccoon successfuly reached the roof (*shewwww*)- so then I guess that means I was making an inspirational commemoration afterall.

I thought the design was really cute (especially how fluffy the raccoon turned out!) and decided to mock up the design into a shirt and tote with my fulfillment company that I normally use for Hip My Trip.

By the time I completed these designs and added them to my shop, it was about 2pm Rome time, 7am St Paul time and we were about to eat lunch. I knew this was prime time to share something as people in St Paul were waking up so I was nervously hurrying and letting my lunch of yummy frozen pizza (it's so good here!) get cold.

To be honest, I was nervous to share because in my mind it was a big enough occasion to make art for but I was worried maybe other people would think I was silly and brush it off. And- if that happened oh well, I did make it just because I wanted to, but an artist does love an audience afterall! It's quite validating to be shown appreciation since most of us have at least some level of self-worth complex, just saying.

So on the 13th at about 7am St Paul time I shared my post on Instagram and Facebook, suggesting if anyone feels like it they are welcome to share the post. I think a large part of my success was being 7 hours ahead- I had much more time to spend effort on it which added to the surprise slight irony factor as well.

The only way I can describe the rest of the day is 'chaotic excitement.' The post on FB was shared 70 times total (this is in the first few days, but most were in the first day), a handful of times on Twitter (my partner Onar was working Twitter- he was responding to so many people that were asking about any t-shirts available, bless him!), featured in an MPR News article, and on top of the social spread- M A N Y people were actually clicking on the links to the T-shirts and tote bags.

The first sale was about an hour after posting I think- one shirt! I couldn't believe it, and had to figure out what to do when selling something in my shop since this was the first time that happened. (I had just set it up a few weeks earlier). 20 minutes later a second order came in- this time for T W O canvas bags! My partner kept saying he believed I'd sell a lot but I didn't think that would happen. I ended up netting about half my rent money for the month! Pretty darn exciting for a freelancer.

I was guessing many people were visiting my site but wouldn't know until the next day when the analytics were tallied. I first checked Google analytics and it said something like 60 unique visitors. That's more than usual, but I thought maybe it would have been a bit more with the amount of times it was shared. Then it hit me- since I just set up my shop I hadn't added the Google Analytics code to that page yet. Drats! But then I remembered Squarespace has its own analytics which was making more sense:

If you couldn't guess, since this site is primarily functioning as my portfolio for freelance work I do N O T get many views/unique visitors a month. For some this number would be crazy low, but for my level this was crazy high!

All in all, this whole experience of following the plight of the MPR Raccoon, being inspired to make art, and being met with such positive feedback about it has been such a fun ride!

I don't think an opportunity like this would happen again, I see it like a once in a lifetime fluke thing, so I'm just going to appreciate that it happened and go on with my day.

I did learn a lesson in timing and effort.

I believe if I was even 4 hours later to post this design in the day it wouldn't have had nearly an impression. (Of course- that wouldn't be the case if I had a ton of fans and people that followed my work- but I don't. I'm just one independent freelance designer still figuring out a 'style' with a constant identity crisis in what I share.) A breaking news story like this needs to be acted upon right away if you want to be leading rather than following. I actually learned this while working at myTalk, maybe listening to them inspired me in more ways than one.

Also I believe it's worth putting effort into something if you really believe in it- and it shouldn't matter whether or not you anticipate feedback. It's those times you aren't really trying that hard that end up being more impactful in the world.

So that's my fun story about the #MPRRaccoon that went viral- may the story and She Who Persisted go down in history and never be forgotten.

Sorry to disappoint if you thought this was a tutorial for how to make glitter glue IRL, BUT I hope this digital fabrication of it will bring you similar levels of joy.

Glitter is one of my favorite elements, maybe because it's often the opposite of professional so if I'm using it that means I'm working on a fun personal project that doesn't have any risk or feedback to it. I've been using the same glitter .pat files (mentioned below) for YEARS now and have learned some fun (basic) tricks with it. In this post you'll learn how writing or decorating rather messily before adding this glitter glue magic is a great way to get a little more loose in the digital space and have fun!

Ingredients

— Photoshop

— A way to draw in Photoshop (Wacoms make this a bajillion times easier IMO)

Steps

1. Have a new layer of its own where you roughly draw the words or shape you'd like to be in glitter. Make sure your brush is 100% Hardness, 100% opacity, and make your best judgement on size for your needs.

****Don't worry at all about:****

Imperfection— Here imperfect is best. We're creating the look of something hand drawn remember, if the letters were perfectly spaced and squiggle free, it would look fishy.

Color— We're eventually going to overlay the pattern on this so just use something easy to see.

2. Taper some edges like the glue is running out, and conversely glob some edges, ends, and all places lines meet. Consider how glue consistency is- there are never sharp corners, and when lines meet they sort of join and bead together.

3. Add the glitter! Make sure you have the .pat files installed.(If you don't know how or feel like doing this manually, you can simply open each .jpeg in Photoshop and go to Layer > Define Pattern...)

Double-click on your layer to add a layer style.

Hit 'Pattern' and choose from the drop down one of your new glitter options.

Play around with the colors and scales for your needs. For some reason, (currently) Photoshop can scale your .pat files at 100%, or 50%. I have no idea why (if anyone knows the answer please share your wisdom), but any other percentage that does not fit this perfectly looks horrible and blurry. But luckily, the designer of these glitter patterns included images of glitter at different zooms. It might take some time to figure out which color and scale, at either 100% or 50% works best for your final output. Always judge your layer styles by final output! My example is 1200x1200 if you are wondering/following my numbers.

When picking which glitter color to use, I usually end up adjusting my background later depending on what the color inspires. Of course, you can always change the glitter color with a 'Hue' adjustment.

Congrats! you have glitter! ... but not glue yet.

4. We're going to add highlights/shading to give the illusion this is glue. To do this, we're going to use good ol' Bevel & Emboss. This part of the layer style modal can be frightening with its ability to create the kind of "late 80's uber-intense we're using computers now so lets show off the effects we can do with them" styles. BUT, it's all about subtlety here, and using the lowest settings we can to achieve the look.

Make sure your highlights are overlaid as "Normal" - this is the most important part! This is how we achieve the glossed over glue style, and we luck out with this feature.

This step also takes some playing around and testing to see what works best at your scale. Remember at default settings, Photoshop's layer styles do not scale! So work at the final size (or higher if you will end up converting it to a smart object).

Below are my numbers (for a 1200 x 1200 canvas):

I also recommend a very subtle drop shadow. Pay attention to the tapered edges you made when judging. Essentially we don't want this shadow to be even noticed, it should enhance the illusion without it being super clear why.

Here are my numbers for my drop shadow:

5. We're basically there! At this point I like to adjust the original drawing if it needs. For example, I felt my tapered edges needed to be even thinner after seeing the glitter glue texture on, so I used the eraser tool with no feather to adjust. You can add and adjust freely to this layer, the styles of course will stay the same.

CONGRATS! You've successfully made some glitter glue with no mess to your home.

If anyone uses this technique for a project I'd love to see what you've made.

Adding glitter glue is so much fun, even if its just for a personal art project. Hope this helped or inspired you do make something!

Best,Danielle Attinella

These roses were grown in our garden! They were so beautiful and our brown kitchen counter is the perfect spot to take photos of them. This was a Valentines Day post I made. <3

I've been waiting to write about Hip My Trip until the website was up and I could proudly share the completed project, but I saw a lot of value in expressing where I'm at right now in the beginning stages. So, as of March 28 2017, this is where I'm at.

What is Hip My Trip?

Hip my Trip is my project, currently just living on Etsy, that creates custom artistic maps to remember your impactful trips. It was started after I plugged in the route of my round-world trip in 2016/17 to Google Maps. It was functional, but for extra fun I made a stripped down version that was much more aesthetically pleasing. It hit me that many others probably would love to have a way to show special trips or geographical locations. So I researched, and saw there were definitely a handful of shops (largely on Etsy) that were selling geographical prints and products, but I couldn't find anyone actually showing the route, which to me was the best part! The route is what you're in charge of, there's a lot of pride and significance in it.

Questions that keep me up at night:

Is no one specializing in trip routes because there's no demand for it?

How the hell do I compete with other map art companies that have had their shop open for 7+ years and have 6k sales? How do some of these shops pay for thousands of listings? How do people even find me on Etsy if these companies completely swarm the space, with employees to help and Etsy SEO tools to keep all products new and in front of others?

Ethically am I supposed to be creating all the background patterns? Is it fair if I purchase a pattern and use repeatedly on products? Is it OK to use patterns that belong to other cultures? Isn't it unethical as a white person to use elements from other cultures to make a profit? Does that change if I buy directly from artists and use credit? Is it OK to create my own patterns from elements I take from stock art?

How would I be able to afford to offer any small items if the custom design time is what costs the most, not the materials? Are there products I can offer other than posters that are still cost effective and worth it for the customer to hire me for? Do I want to only be open to custom work?

Is it worth putting hours of time into setting up geographical prints and products like the other shops with my own style, or are people just looking for whats cheapest, which I cant afford?

Is it worth all the time and effort to post and manage my Instagram and social channels just for hope that someone will be a customer from it? Other shops with tons of sales don't seem to be stressing about it and they are quite successful.

Is the name Hip My Trip, and concept of focusing on the routes from trips, too narrow of a category? Do I think it's a great idea because I'm weird and don't relate to most people and what I might think is a great idea might not be as celebrated by others? Is traveling for leisure too much tied to privilege? How to I try to be aware of this and balance with some good?

Thoughts that keep me going:

I believe in the product- it's beautiful and lets you tell your story

The feeling of inadequacy and comparison to other shops is a blessing and a curse. Of course it eats me up a bit to think of how late to the game I am compared to these other companies who have been published in magazines, blogs, etc. But, it also gives me inspiration because that means enough people love maps and the emotional significance they hold

Maps encourage curiosity and let us think more globally, peacefully

I always dreamed of being a good pattern designer, and this medium lets me try out different concepts and be my own art director

Getting a new order brings me such a thrill-not because of the money, but because it means I've connected with someone, they've seen me and appreciate my vision, and more importantly I get to hear of their wonderful stories of their trips which is truly inspiring!

I don't have a job. (Hopefully) finding freelance gigs, a PT mindless data collection job, and my projects are what I have. This is my special time to build something that matters.

Today I just started obsessively creating templates and images for some pillows. I believe they are beautiful and I want to keep pushing myself to only create things I truly love to see, instead of something I assume others would want to just fill space in their home. Intentionality is my goal.

And here's a pattern I designed! I'm really happy with it:

I want to keep my standards high, surprises often, and quality top notch. Thing is there's SO MUCH I want to do, and I feel SO BEHIND others. But I'm trying to stay focused on why I believe in this project and keep moving forward each day, even if it's a tiny bit.

And just like in other aspects of life, it's smart to value your differences. Following, or believing you're supposed to be in the same game as others, doesn't get anyone anywhere and that belief comes from fear of failure. I'm trying to figure out how my unique perspective and values can be a greater focus of the work I put out in the world.

For now- the website. There's a whole lot to tackle in a custom website that includes collecting specific information and payment- and currently it's just set up for the custom posters. Eventually I hope to expand and have more pre-designed map products, and have fun with pattern creating like I always dreamed of as a kid. I'm soooo lucky that my partner can make anything possible I think of and is working on it for me. Well, it's part of our goal to have projects together under a new entity, but that will be sometime in the future and saved for another post.

I'm trying to not feel overwhelmed and take it one step at a time. Wish me luck! (So far it's not going the best...........)